Method of making pouches



Jan. 29, 1957 w. P. NAIL 2,779,144

METHOD OF MAKING POUCHES Filed Dec. 10, 1952 1 I l f// %5 l U iswesPeemQ."

METHOD OF MAKING POUCHES Walter P. Nail, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaApplication December 10, 1952, Serial No. 325,075

4 Claims. (CI. 53-49) This invention relates to improvements in themanufacture of pouches and like containers. The principal object of theinvention is to reduce the number of seams required to produce the pouchto a single seam of simplicity and economy of manufacture and strengthin the finished pouch.

Another important object is to eliminate all wastage of material in theblanking out of the pouch form.

Still another object is to provide a pouch which will eliminate tearingat the join between the flap and the body portions.

The principal feature of the invention resides in blanking out the pouchforms or the like by severing a tube along transverse sever lines eachof which defines a pouch end-forming formation on each side thereof, thebody of the pouch form or blank being constituted by the tube betweenthe end formations whereby blanks are formed from said tube withoutwastage of the material thereof.

More particularly it is contemplated to sever the tube in a manner toprovide pairs of oppositely disposed pouch blanks having bottom andflap-forming formations with the bottom-forming formations of the blankpairs being spaced apart and the flap-forming formations of the blankpairs being contiguous, interfitting and oppositely disposed.

A further important feature resides therefore in shaping the line ofseverance defining the flap portions as a line of opposite symmetry onopposite sides of the axis of the tube whereby the axially extendingexcess material on one side of the axis forms the flap on one piece ofsevered tubing and the excess on the opposite side of the axis forms theflap on another piece of tubing cut by the severing line.

Still a further feature resides in shaping the flap-forming line ofseverance to provide a rounded edge joining the flap to the front of thepouch body formed by the tube length between lines of sever to provide aresistance to tear.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a length of tubing showing the manner inwhich it is severed to produce blanks in the formation of a pouch inaccordance with the inventron.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of one of the blanks cut from the tube ofFigure 1 in an opened-out state.

Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the blank showing the bottomedge ready to be sealed.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 but showing the bottom edgesealed.

Figure 5 is a view of the completed pouch packed with material to bedispensed therein and with a temporary seal across the mouth of thepouch.

Figure 6 is an end view of the pouch of Figure 5 with the flap foldeddown over the body.

Figure 7 is a plan view of a length of tubing showing an alternativeform of blank.

Figure 8 is an elevational view of a pouch formed from the blanks ofFigure 7.

2,779,144 I Patented Jan. 29, 1957 Figure 9 is a view similar to Figure7 but showing still a further modified form of blanking.

Figure 10 is a rear elevational view of a pouch formed from the blank ofFigure 9.

Figure 11 shows still a further tube blanking, and Figure 12 illustratesthe open pouch afforded by the blankmg.

Referring to Figure 1, 1 represents a tube of material, preferably athin pliable heat-scalable plastic, e. g., polyethylene or the like,which may be transparent or colcured.

The tube 1 is then cut at spaced intervals along the transverse severlines 2 and between the lines of sever 2 along sever lines 3 whichcomprise symmetrically disposed transverse portions 4 connected byrounded knees S to an axially extending portion 6. Thus the sever lines3 have opposite symmetry on either sides of a line 77 mid-way betweenthe sever lines 2 and have opposite symmetry on opposite sides of thetube axis 8-8.

These sever lines divide the tube into individual blanks 9 with eachblank having an excess of material 10 adapted to constitute a flap onone side of the axis 8--8 extending axially beyond the body of the blank9 on the opposite side of the axis.

The symmetry of the sever lines 3 provides the flapforming portions 10on the tube lengths 9 between adjacent sever lines 2 without wastage ofany of the material of the tube.

Figure 2 illustrates the blank 9 in a somewhat open form and Figure'3illustrates the blank fully opened up to pouch formation with the severline 2 defining the bottom edge of the pouch.

Figure 4 shows the bottom edge 2 sealed as at 11, preferably by means ofa heat seal to complete the pouch formation. The pouch may then befilled with material, such as tobacco 12 Figure 5, and a relatively weakseal 13 applied across the mouth of the pouch to seal the contents fromthe atmosphere. The flap 10 may then be folded over as illustrated inFigure 6.

It will be seen that with the pouch blanked from a tubular form thesingle seam 11 only is required to complete the pouch formation, greatlysimplifying the handling and decreasing the cost of manufacture.

Additionally the entire material of the tube is utilized to form theblank without wastage, and the knees 5 of the sever lines 3 provide acurving tear-resistant juncture between the flap 10 and body portion 9.With this curve formation pull on the front of the pouch body 9 istransferred over an extended length of the juncture of the flap with thepouch body and is not concentrated at the cornet to the same extent thatoccurs in conventional pouch constructions which normally split at thispoint.

In the modified form of the invention shown in Figure 7, the tube 1' issevered along transverse lines 14 at spaced points, with the lines 14having an otfset 15 at the axis of the tube to provide a bottom formingflap 16 as shown in Figure 8. The sever line 17 between the lines 14 hasa difierent shape than the line 3 and again is of opposite symmetry onopposite sides of the tube axis to provide the flap portion 18, Figure8. The bottom flap 16 may be sealed or secured in any known way but thepreferable method is to effect a heat seal along this edge.

In Figure 9 the tube 1 is shown provided with spaced transverse severlines 20 corresponding to lines 2 of Figure 1 to define the bottom edgeof the pouch, and between these sever lines the sever lines 21corresponding to the lines of severance 3 of Figure 1. In addition,extending in from the edge of the tube are cuts 22 which terminate inenlarged orifices 23.

With this arrangement a blank corresponding to the blank of Figure 2 isformed from which the pouch may be made and in the back of this pouchthe cuts 22 and orifices 23 define a dispensing slot for tissues and thelike where the rounded ends 23' of the slot cause an oven turning of thetissue being dispensed.

Figure 11 illustrates afurther modification of the invention wherein ablank 24 is provided by. cutting 'tube 25 without wastage of thematerial of the tube, and this blank in its state of Figure 12 may beconsidered as an open pouch and it will be appreciated that the endextensions 26 can be folded over, the one to define a bottom to thepouch and the other to form a flap.

It will be understood that other various forms of blanks may be providedby altering the configuration of the severance lines without departingfrom the invention.

What 5 claim as my invention is:

1. A method of forming pouches which comprises transversely cutting atube'of heat-scalable material while in a flat state with linear cutsextending perpendicular to the tube axis and between each pair of linearcuts, compoundly cutting said tube along a compound line having oppositesymmetry on opposite sides of both the axis of the tube and a linetransverse the tube axis and forming a median line between said pair oflinear cuts, opening out each tube length defined between a linear and acompound cut and refolding same to bring the original fold edgescentrally of the width of the refolded tube length,

posite symmetry on opposite sides of both the axis of the tube and aline transverse the tube axis and forming a median line between saidpair of linear cuts to form pouch flap forming formation having an axialextent at one side of the tube axis substantially as great as'the lengthof the tube between said compound cut and the adjacent linear cut at theother side of the tube axis, opening out each tube length definedbetween a linear and a compound cut and refolding same to bring theoriginal fold edges centrally of the width of the refolded tube length,heatsealing each refolded tube length along the end defined by thelinear cut to form such tube length into an open pouch, the flapformation defined by said compound out being adapted to close said openpouch.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2 in which said open pouch is filledwith a material to be protected and said flap formationis moved to closesaid open pouch and is heat-sealed in pouch-closing relation with a sealrelatively weaker than the seal along the end defined by the linear cut.

4. A method of forming pouches which comprises transversely cutting atube of material while in a flattened state with linear cuts extendingperpendicularly to the tube axis and between each pair of linear cutscompoundly cutting said tube along a compound line having substantiallyopposite symmetry on opposite sides of the axis of the tube and a linetransversely of the tube, opening out each tube length defined between alinear and a compound cut and refolding same to bring the original foldedges centrally of the width of the refolded tube length, closing eachrefolded tube length along the end defined by the linear cut to formsaid tube length into an open pouch, the end defined by the compound cutproviding a flap for closing said open pouch.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS259,238 Stocking June 6, 1882 2,095,910 Bergstein Oct. 12, 19372,106,431 Jones Jan. 25, 1938 2,186,124 Rash Ian. 9, 1940 2,265,075Kneutter Dec. 2, 1941 2,442,091 Mann May 25, 1948

